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Bucket List Item #4: Play 18 Holes of Disc Golf
The first rule of disc golf: do NOT call them “frisbees.”
I added this item to my “30 Things To Do Before Turning 30” bucket list because we have tons of disc golf courses around us in Idaho and it’s such an easy sport to pick up and play with a group at a park. We have a course right next to our house that I’ve never been to, and I wanted to motivate myself to go!
Last Saturday morning, we loaded up the baby in her stroller and poured two commuter mugs of coffee. We met my parents at a local park, and it was gray and dreary out. My dad let us borrow sets of discs from him: if you aren’t familiar, there are specific driver, mid-range, and putter discs just like golf clubs.
There is a concrete slab to “tee off” on each hole. They also have pars just like regular golf. We used a disc golf score-keeping app to keep track as we went. I didn’t have high hopes for myself, since my athletic abilities don’t go far beyond long-distance running.
Since the course was only 9 holes and my bucket list specifically called for 18, we played the whole course twice. It took us two hours and Brynnley was so cooperative, sleeping in her covered stroller the entire time.
My disc didn’t seem to travel too far each throw, so it took me closer to 6 or 7 throws compared to the par 3. I would try to get my disc as close to the basket as possible, only to have it cover 20 or so feet, walk over to it and throw it another 20 feet in front of myself until we made it to the basket. I told my dad, “I feel like I’m just playing fetch with myself!”
And only one of us got our disc stuck in a tree….
We tallied our scores after the first nine holes, and aimed to beat our own scores again on the second time around. My scores were less than impressive, to say the least. I scored 23 over par the first round and 26 over par the second round. We kept the sets of discs from my dad to take home and practice at the course next to our house when the weather is nice! Its such a nice easy sport to play casually any time, I want to keep practicing and hopefully getting my drives to cover a little more ground.
The rest of the afternoon was rainy and gloomy, so we came home and made soup for lunch while starting another bucket list item – watching the first Harry Potter movie. I feel like that series is just more enjoyable on a dark rainy day. :)
30 Things To Do Before Turning 30
For Christmas, one of my stocking stuffers from my husband Zeb (oh yeah, I’m married! I suppose we do have a lot to catch up from since my last blogging phase from 2011-2018!) was a cute rom-com fiction book called “Love, Lists and Fancy Ships.” The main character is a 29-year old yacht stewardess who created a list of 30 things to accomplish before she turned 30. While reading the book, I was 28 and about to turn 29 myself. The number “30” startles my gag reflex. It’s an age that sounds so much farther in the distance for me than it really is. I feel like I just finished college still. I know I’ve hit the major adult milestones in my 20s – bought a house, got married, and found out I was pregnant with my first baby. But I still don’t feel “adult” enough to qualify for the 30s club just yet.
To make the new decade more palatable, I decided to copy the main character from this novel and write my own bucket list to make the most of the rest of my 20s.
The morning of my 29th birthday, Zeb and I went to brunch together at a local spot here in Idaho. I started a new note in my phone and began listing activities I hoped to do before my next birthday. By the end of our brunch, I had 17 items I would commit to doing over the next 365 days. We brought the note back out at dinner with my parents that night and rounded out the 30 items.
And here it is:
30 Things To Do Before Turning 30
- Visit a National Park
- Stand-Up Paddle Board
- Run a Half Marathon
- Visit a Museum
- Sing Karaoke at a Bar
- Do 30 Push-ups in a Row
- Officiate a Wedding
- Read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
- Try Caviar
- Fit Back into my Wedding Dress
- Volunteer at an Event
- Plant a Garden
- Catch a Fish
- Practice Calligraphy
- Watch All of the Harry Potter Movies
- Give Birth
- Make Homemade Bread
- Sled Down the Bruneau Sand Dunes
- Attend a Concert
- Swim in an Ocean
- Learn New Winter Sport
- Hike a New Trail in Idaho
- Visit a New Country
- Make a Coffee Table Scrapbook
- Ride a Roller Coaster
- Take a Dance Class
- Play 18 Holes of Disc Golf
- Jump in a Pool with all my Clothes On
- Go Tent Camping
- Travel to 3 Different States
Zeb says its cheating to add “give birth” since I’m nine months pregnant as I wrote this list (oh yeah, another catch-up moment for those blog readers that haven’t heard from me in 3 years. Surprise!) but I think it’s a pretty momentous occasion during my 20s that I should get some kind of credit for on this list of activities!
I plan to create a journal/blog entry for every item on this list as I cross it off and document the year through the photos and stories this brings up. So stay tuned to see how we work our way through this list before I turn the big 3-0 on February 12, 2023!
Gone Fishin’ + My First Blue Apron Meal
Good morning, coffee lovers! In case you missed it, yesterday was National Coffee Day. This is a serious holiday on my calendar which required careful calculation and strategy for hitting up the main coffee shops without over-caffeinating myself ;)
Dutch Bros. is a main coffee drive-thru in the PNW and as part of their National Coffee Day celebration, profit from every drink went to our local Boys and Girls Club charity. PLUS customers were given a full “punch card’ which can be redeemed for a free drink on your next visit. Another coffee hut was offering 4 drinks for $10, and my office even created their own coffee bar in the break room. There were flavored foam pumps (I did not even know that existed!), whip cream, fancy creamers, sprinkles, and coffee-flavored chocolates. My heart was very very happy yesterday.
The coffee love just KEPT ON COMING this morning because a brand new coffee shop literally right down the street from me had its Grand Opening today. They advertised free coffee all day, so of course I pulled in on my way to work. I expected the free drink to be black coffee. Nope! ANY drink, fancy as you want, all for free. They have Oreo Chillers and Rockstar Freezes and Pumpkin Spice Lattes and something called a “Caramel Blondie.” Creature of habit, I went with an iced nonfat vanilla americano but I just might go back after work for something a little more festive. Depends on if I feel like going for a run first or not ;)
Anyways, what I’m REALLY here for is to share the last bit of fun from my weekend that included a fishing trip and my very first Blue Apron meal. Last summer, my family vacationed in Mammoth Lakes, California and went fishing very early in the morning. I caught nothing. This trip, I caught so many fish that I had to take a break to let my dad fish without having to continually re-set my line! :)
We mostly caught trout, and threw them right back in the river (after snapping a picture first, duh. It’s 2016.) It was so peaceful to stand in the river, look out into the forest and just appreciate the autumn day.
That night, we got home feeling drained and lazy. Then I remembered that my first Blue Apron box had arrived on Friday and I had 3 different meals to choose from! I love that they come in refrigerated boxes with all of the ingredients pre-portioned. The recipe cards are so detailed and I really appreciate the photos of each step. I picked the “Summer Pepper Shakshuka” with eggs and za’atar. This was the first time I’ve ever cooked a Middle Eastern dish myself, and I think it turned out pretty dang close to the picture!
There was something relaxing about dicing up all of the fresh vegetables. I threw them into a large pan and added the seasonings that came with my delivery. The best part? PITA BREAD. You know how much I love my carbs. The actual pita was already cooked, but it came in a circle like pizza crust. I got to slice it into triangles, toast in the oven and add the za’atar seasoning. They came out flavorful and toasty, just like they should!
Fresh pea shoots brought some color into this dish! The protein came from farm-fresh eggs that were added to the pan at the last few minutes. It seemed like a savory breakfast-for-dinner meal, but breakfast is my favorite so I was completely onboard for that!
My favorite part of cooking Blue Apron meals is how aesthetic they are plated! I know I’m not the only one who’s always proud when I serve a dish that looks restaurant-worthy. Especially with the Instagram food porn that makes a bowl of oatmeal look like pure art. Taking an extra minute for the presentation is one of those simple little things that is so satisfying, and I think every Blue Apron meal includes a very beautiful presentation.
A little feta sprinkled on top and voila! I think the whole meal took between 30-40 minutes to create. It was bursting with flavors that were somewhat foreign to me. I’d never cooked with za’atar, shallots, or pea shoots before. Cost-wise, Blue Apron meals are considerably less expensive than eating at a restaurant. The meals are less than $10 each, but seasonal specials and discounts are always popping up in my inbox. Plus everything is delivered to your door and pre-measured. I’m at that weird transitional phase between an on-campus college student with a meal plan and dozens of campus dining options to living completely on my own and “fending for myself.” Since health and nutrition are so important to me, I hardly want to get into that bad habit of resorting to microwave meals for dinner every night.
I learned about Blue Apron through fellow bloggers PBFingers.com and HungryRunnerGirl.com & I think it is the perfect transition for me to start learning to cook whole nutritious meals!
There are two more new-to-me meals from my last delivery to create this weekend and I can’t wait to try the Summer Udon Salad! (I opted for the vegetarian meal plan.) After a whole week of 5:00am workouts, I want nothing more than a lazy Friday night at home with yoga pants, Grey’s Anatomy, decaf coffee, and some time in the kitchen with a new healthy recipe. Plus all those Udon noodles will serve as my carbo-loading for tomorrow’s long run! Shelby, my running teammate, and I are going to try to get in 13 miles before the weather turns dreary tomorrow morning.
Happy Free-Coffee-Friday!
XO Kenz.
