Half Dome

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Hiking Half Dome has been on my "to-do" list for a couple of years now. My dad mentioned a while ago that he would like to hike it before he dies. After doing a little bit of research on it, I decided I wanted to too. Last year, we procrastinated and never got permits for it. This year I was determined to make this happen. I wanted to challenge myself! A few family members all said they wanted to hike it too. I nagged my dad every week or so to apply for permits. Finally in mid-March, we sat down and planned our trip. By that time, hotels in Yosemite were fully booked until late September. Whoops. September it is. So we made reservations and picked a weekend to apply for permits. Permits are given out on a lottery basis, with only 400 allotted each day. I was a little nervous that we wouldn't be approved, but a few weeks ago we got news that we were good to go! At nearly 9,000 feet, this 14-16 mile hike is gonna be brutal. Gotta work on that training! 

My weekend, and #16

For some reason, the last few weeks have felt really long. Work has been getting busier, and each weekend was flying by, packed with chores and errands. So I made a promise to myself - Saturday I would just rest and relax, guilt free. I spent the day reading and catching up on all the shows I missed during the week. Pretty sure the most strenuous thing I did all day was hit up the starbucks drive-thru. 

Today, I felt so much better and was ready to do something fun and different. I've been wanting to see the dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum for a long time, so we headed over there. It was so cool! I'm kind of a history nerd, and dinosaurs have always boggled my mind, so I loved getting to learn more about them. (And the other exhibits were great too - we saw giant camels, walking whales, and mastodons from our own backyard!)

Also, I'm 99% sure they come to life at night. 

#15

Ok, I'm just now getting back in the swing of things. I promise I didn't go AWOL. I've been working on my resolutions (more on those later), watching 30 rock obsessively, and trying not to curse this hot windy weather we've been having. In between all that, I did go to Chocolatine. My cousin and I took my mom there for her birthday last weekend. It's a very cute, very small French cafe with absolutely drool-worthy desserts. We'd had a delicious lunch and pretended we were in France (it was more like how I envisioned France in my head - not how it was in real life) 

I wish I had known about it earlier - it would have been perfect for my cousin's bridal shower! Oh well. We'll just have to go back and pretend. :)

25 by 25

Oh man, I can't believe I'm going to be 25 next year. Ok, that's giving me a little bit of a headache, so let's just move on to the list, shall we? 

First, I put anything I didn't do on my 24x24 list on this list. 

1. Move out. 

2. Hike Half Dome.
3. Go kayaking
4. See a movie at our local theater that serves dinner and drinks.
5. Go on a fabulous vacation. (I have decided this should be on my list every year!)
6. Add more color to my wardrobe. I own a lot of gray - it's time to spice things up.
7. Go on the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel.
8. Make a scrapbook of my college years.
9. Go to Diddy Riese.
10. Try paddle boarding.
11. Stretch and improve my posture.
12. Wear bright lipstick with confidence.
13. Expand my musical horizons. (I'm a little embarrassed to tell you how much music on my ipod is from my high school years.)
14. Go beer and/or whiskey tasting.
15. Go to Chocolatine.
16. Go to the Natural History Museum and see their new dinosaur exhibit.
17. Revisit some of the classics I read in high school.
18. Read Johnathan Strange and Paris: A Secret History. These have both been on my bookshelf for a while, but their length has stopped me from picking them up, so I'd like to finally read them.
19. Watch the first seasons of 30 Rock, Community and Friday Night Lights.
20. Participate in Operation Beautiful.
21. Make this hot chocolate.
22. Start writing again. I was really into writing poetry in high school, but haven't written anything for the past few years.
23. Get crafty. Maybe try my hand at painting.
24. Visit San Francisco - one of my absolute favorite cities.
25. Have an amazing 25th birthday party. Since my birthday always falls so close to Thanksgiving, it's hard to party it up, but I'm determined to make my 25th a big celebration.