The last week of my 20's....

Part of me is dreading while the other part of me is looking forward to my 30th birthday on Saturday...I found this list and wanted to see how it applied to me!

Things To Do Before You Turn Thirty’. The rules are:
1. The things you have already done – make them bold.
2. Italics is for things that you are dying to do!



01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (will do next time I am in vegas!)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking (i always dance like this)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs )
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 1 day
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 30 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

2011 Recap

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Moved to Pittsburgh and got a 5.0 A1C!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I never make them

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Steph and Chris had Emma on March 30th and Sarah and Trevor had Katherine on October 27th.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Shockingly my cousin Michael

5. What countries did you visit? Stayed in the US again

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A baby, a dog and a house, easy enough

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? September 26th when Mike turned 30!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Quitting a job I hated and not being afraid of what would happen next

9. What was your biggest failure? Not looking hard enough for a new job

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Luckily no.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our new Nikon 1 Camera

12. Where did most of your money go? Getting the credit cards paid off, hope to see that happen in 2012.

13. What did you get really excited about? Trip to San Franciso and going to Sonoma!

14. What song will always remind you of 2011? Anything Michael Buble as we went to his concert this year in Pittsburgh with Dad and Annette.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? Sadder I think actually.
– thinner or fatter? Thinner, the running has gotten better.
– richer or poorer? Richer, thanks to our cheap rent now!

16. What do you wish you’d done more of? Ran more and took more trips.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of? Sat around and done nothing.

18. How did you spend Christmas? In Erie and Warren seeing both families.

19. What was your favorite TV program? Nothing beats NCIS for us.

20. What were your favorite books of the year? Lets be honest, I dont read.

21. What was your favorite music from this year? Anything on the radio.

22. What were your favorite films of the year? Cant remember the last movie we went to.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? On my 29th birthday Mike made a cake for me and we went to a wine bar in Arlington, VA with Aaron, Em, Laura, Nathan and Erin.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Knowing we were moving to Pittsburgh earlier in the year.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Getting better!

26. What kept you sane? Mike, my Dad and brother.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011: "No reward comes without risk"

Cakes

It is hard being a diabetic and wanting to bake something. It does not matter what it is, but everytime I even begin to think about baking I am hit with a pang of guilt over if I should be eating that sort of food or not. I enjoy the show Cake Boss and often wonder how hard it really is to make something similar to what is seen on that show. Recently I had more and more friends putting pictures up on Facebook of some fantastic fondant cake they had made. So I started thinking about if I could make some sort of creation using fondant on a cake that is similar to what is seen on TV.

Once again though I had to stop and think about the consequences of baking, because if it is made it has to be eaten. And did I really need to have an unnecessary cake lying around to mess up my blood sugars and give me unnecessary calories?

The answer was yes and I am glad I did it because after spending a few hours putting this cake together I realized that first of all fondant does not taste that good and second of all it was way too tiring and time consuming than I want to ever spend making a cake again for just a random Thursday!

26 years

I cannot remember a life not being diabetic. There might be some sadness in that statement for some people, but not to me. I would rather not remember the freedom of not being diabetic and be able to compare it to life as it is today. But when you get acknowledgement, no matter how small, it always feels good. Joslin Diabetes Center formally recognized me for having diabetes for 25 years or more. It has not been easy and a certificate is not a million dollars, but I will take it. And I will go forward waiting for my next award in another 25 years.

How Many?

This picture reminds me of that game where they ask you to guess how many jellybeans are in a container to win some prize. I never did well at that game! I have been saving my test strips in this container for months now. It was supposed to help so they did not end up all over the floor, but yet that still seems to happen quite frequently. It is crazy though to see all of these strips and think that my fingers have been pricked that many times in a short amount of time! Yet alone how many times they have been pricked in twenty six years time of being diabetic!

Stress

It is interesting how stress comes into your life when you dont see it coming. It is also interesting how you have to make an extra effort when you are diabetic to not let it ruin your diabetes control. In recent days there has been some stuff going on that makes it harder to stay on top of my diabetes management. Just things that need to be figured out and decisions that have to made. All the while I have to remember to keep doing what I have to do everyday and check my blood sugar as often as I always do. I have never been one to notice stress making a huge difference in my blood sugars, but some people say that this happens to them. I guess I am lucky in that regard, but trying to exercise, eat right and check blood sugars seems to tedious when all you want to do lay on the couch and watch Teen Mom 2 on MTV. Yay!

“The most awesome thing I have done in spite of diabetes is . . . . “

That is the theme of the website DSMA (http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/introducing-the-dsma-blog-carnival/) this month and they have asked people to answer that question on their own blogs.

I think the most awesome thing I have done in spite of diabetes is run. I have ran 2 mile races, 5K races, 8K's, 6 miles, 10 miles, and the most important 3 half marathons or 13.1 miles. The best of these races was the Richmond Half Marathon in November of 2010. I ran it the quickest I have ever ran before (2:13) and I felt good doing it. My blood sugar was stable all during this race as well. And the end of the race I got engaged. None of these events were affected by diabetes and it was not even a thought that day. I cannot believe I can run these races and I am looking forward to doing it again soon!