Top Ten Tuesday

10 Random Facts About ME!

1. My childhood nickname was Mason. Papa Smurf was also given to me by some friends in high school (I really have no idea why). Mason was used a lot!. I don't have a nickname anymore, although I do get called Ash by a few people.

2. If you want to spoil me rotten, buy me a vacation to somewhere tropical, with a beach!

3. The television character I most identify with is Lisa Simpson. She is the smart, overachieving, dorky middle sister on The Simpsons. My family resembles The Simpsons quite a bit actually! But I relate to Lisa since she is all sorts of nerdy but is still so super fabulous. Although I pretty much never wore a dress as a child and you will rarely find me in one today. Oh, and I'm not too yellow and my hair isn't spikey! ;)

4. If I had a whole day to go shopping and money to spend, I would go to a whole lot of places, since I have all day! :) If I had to choose a couple places they would probably be: REI, Title Nine, IKEA and the Nike Outlet. 

5. The most wild and crazy thing I have ever done (that I can admit to publicly) is jumping out of a plane in Cape Town, South Africa! It was an amazing experience!! I am so glad I did it! I would love to go again, but being a mom does make me more wary - so weird how that happens! 

6. The one thing on my bucket list that I am most eager to do is travel outside of the country for something other than the World Cup. I mentioned this in my last Top Ten Tuesday post. I would love to take a nice vacation with my guys!

7. My family will always be loyal to each other! Finn and I both come from pretty tight knit families and we want Dempsey to experience that as well. 

8. If I could spend a day with a celebrity I would choose Rob Dyrdek! One of the main reasons is because I know my day would be an action-packed adventure full of ball pits, motorcycles, pranks, etc. That guy is hilarious and seems super down to earth to boot.

9. In my opinion, the best invention in the history of the world is electricity. Without that crucial building block the rest of the amazing technologies that exist today wouldn't exist at all!

10. When life hands me lemons, I make ice tea because I love it with tons of lemon!! But none of that Arnold Palmer crap - it is NOT the same thing as ice tea with lots of lemon!! 

Top Ten Tuesday

This week's post is about things I would like to do (do more of and/or do better)! I can't say that these are truly my top 10 of all time, but they are the first things that came into my mind so I figured they were important and noteworthy.

{Top} Ten Things I'd Like to Do 

10. Build something!

I'm thinking pergola/shade structure/tree house/shelves/bench/table. I would love to be able to build a beautiful pergola/shade structure (like this one) in our backyard this summer so that we could spend more time outside enjoying the beautiful Colorado days and evenings. 

9. Sew more things (without help)! 

I've sewn a few things - mostly with help from my mom. I don't think I've sewn anything on my own and in a straight line since I was in 8th grade. But, I would love to be able to sew, on my own. For example: these beautiful potholders would be so fun to make and for a huge step up the sewing later, this amazing pillow!!!

      

8. Get more chickens! 

I love chickens and I would love to have an even bigger flock! While our small family doesn't really need more eggs I wouldn't mind having a large flock with plenty of extra eggs to share, sell, make awesome food with!

7. Hike a 14er! 

With more than fifty 14ers in Colorado it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish this one! Heck, there are even three that you can conquer in one day/hike if you set yourself up for success! I mean look at this view from the top of Mt. Evans just a short distance from our house. 

6. Do more crafts and crafty things

Thanks to pinterest I have been inspired seeing all the craftiness that is available on there and in the past year or so I have followed through with several different crafty/diy projects including cowboy cookie thank yous, lemon sugar body scrub, and a kusudama flowers. However, once the project is complete I tend to not keep up with the level of craftiness until another occasion arises. I guess I feel a need to craft/diy for the sake of it and not for a specific reason.

5. Complete something that seems too hard to do

I was really thinking of something like a triathlon, a run/race, a primal challenge, committing to crossfit for a month, perfecting a yoga pose that I can't even imagine getting into at this point or something else crazy. Anything having to do with health and/or fitness apparently seems too hard for me to do. Haha.

4.Travel out of the country for a reason other than the World Cup

I love travelling for the World Cup! It is an amazing way to see the world, including places that you may never visit otherwise. It is always an incredible atmosphere and wherever you are at, the country and the people are generally at their best since they are very much in the public eye. While this is wonderful, it would also be great to travel outside of the U.S. just because. Fiji, Australia, Patagonia, Thailand and the Galapagos Islands are all places that I would love to visit! 

Elephant on Phuket, Thailand

3. Get my PhD

I've pretty much always aspired to be a doctor of some sort and not the medical kind, although Jenn from the Little Couple really makes me think I could be an awesome neonatologist or pediatrician. But, I will save that for other people. I really want my PhD and I will most likely obtain it in environmental health.

source

2. Live on a beach

I love water, I love the beach, I love the sound of water crashing on the beach. I love the laid back lifestyle that comes with living on or near a beach. I would just really love to live on a beach at some point in my life, maybe even a vacation home or something. I would also be happy living on an island with easy beach access! This house looks lovely! :)

1. Love my body

This one is a tough one. I've struggled with self esteem and body image issues for as long as I can remember.  I've always had more of a short and stocky build and I don't always treat my body the way it should be treated so my weight often fluctuates and I tend to be on the overweight side of the spectrum. Since having a baby, my body has changed quite a bit! Learning to love the way I look is something I strive to do, regardless of my weight/shape/etc.