10 Day Challenge - 2!

I had a lot of fun doing my first 10 day challenge and keeping myself in check that I thought I'd go for another 10! There is still a lot of food I want to try, exercises I need to push myself to do and just activities that I'm lazy and don't do haha this makes it written in stone and more of necessity to complete. 

Check out my new 10 day challenge, I hope some of you are trying this!



Challenge #6 - Take a HIKE!

Goal #6 - go on a hike!

This was a bite challenging because we had quite a few bumps in the road before we actually made it on our hike.  I have a book of hikes, but I have already gone on the local ones and the others are about 45 minutes to over an hour away.  Therefore, David and I thought we'd go to Irvine Great Lake and hike around there... we drove down just to find out that the hiking trails aren't built yet.

BUMMER!

Then we decided to conquer the 1,000 steps in Laguna Beach.. and on our way there traffic was so terribly bad that David and I are now in an awful mood and this isn't fun anymore.  I turned my little car around and headed home.  We laid on my bed for about 5 minutes and then said ok lets go! and we set off to Santiago Canyon.

I have done this hike in the past, but that didn't stop the fun because there are so many different routes that there was no way that we went on the same exact trails as I had previously done.  We had so much fun! It took us about an hour or so to hike around the entire loop that we chose to follow.  It was definitely cardio for the day and we got a nice little tan while we were at it!

101. Get engaged :))

Biggest goal! Number 101 is complete!!!!

David and I are engaged and couldn't be more excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is our story...

Lets just start by saying that David is not a planner! When we go out or do a day-trip somewhere you better believe that I generally have thought of the idea or took an idea from a conversation of ours and do the research that goes along with.  And for the record, I am in no way complaining about this, but that is just the way it is with us!

So, David tells me that he wants to take me to a restaurant down by Crystal Cove and I say "OK, when are we going?"  He nonchalontly says, "Whenever we're free I guess" and so I look at my calendar and suggest a date I see open and tell him "How about Sunday, May 20?" and he agrees and so it is set.  In the mean time I'm asking him what the plan is and he says that we'll have a picnic for lunch, hike around and then go to this restaurant for dinner so bring a change of clothes.

The date comes around, about two weeks or so later, we get everything together - I packed a picnic basket and David looked up directions and off we went! Once we got there we picked a parking lot, gathered the picnic basket and blanket and headed down to the beach.  It was quite a hike down but once by the water we parked ourselves on our blanket and started eating.  There were these cute little squirrels everywhere and I decided to feed them - as David is yelling at me not to :)

After lunch we put the food and basket back in the car and hiked around a little more just looking at the gorgeous view! Upon arriving we received a map of the cove so we took a look and David suggested going to this little spot on the far side of the beach.  We hiked over and I was getting pretty tired.  The sun was blazing right on us and we had climbed up and down trails for quite a while.  We came to a cave that we believe our good friend Dan Kintz took an award winning photograph at, so we decided to park ourselves for a while and play in the water and look at the tidepools.

While playing around with the sea life David asked if we wanted to do an exercise that we learned in counseling, we finish the phrase "When I say I love you I mean...." We took a seat on some rocks right off the water and did this exercise.  David was very into it and giving these long elaborate phrases while mine were pretty short.  We did this for a few times back and forth and David asks me if I want to play a game... I was not entertained by this idea, but I said sure.  He told me that I would have to stand up.  So I do, and as soon as I looked up at him I knew.. I completely started balling as he got on one knee and said "Will you marry me?" as he popped out that little black box and opened the lid.  I was so taken back that I didn't even see the ring and fell straight into his arms forgetting to answer his question.  I said yes and the rest is history!

This picture was taken after the proposal by a beachgoer that was walking behind us as we continued hiking up to an viewpoint.  We told her that we were just engaged and if we could do it over again so we could capture the moment! She was happy to and gave us this beautiful memory!!!

And here is a first look at our engagement shoot.  More to come..

New Love - Hiking

While at Barnes and Noble one afternoon, David and I found a hiking book full of easy-moderate hikes in Southern California.  All very local.  And it was probably about $5.

BUY!

I went on one of the hikes last week and was just blown away by how many trails there were, the amount of people that hike in the area and how beautiful the view was!  The people weren't overbearing in anyway, it was just nice that there were people around and I wasn't completely solo on new land.

Santiago Creek Loop Trail

My handy-dandy guide book showed me that the trail went in a big loop start to finish.  I found out that because there are so many different trails, staying on that loop is impossible even if you tried.  So I stopped trying.

I ventured on a few different routes and found stairs that led to a trail that took you to a view point. And it did! It wasn't too bad up, unless you're me and aren't used to hiking, but it didn't defeat me!  The view was worth the climb.

My new goal, not on my DZP list - but just personally, is to take a hike at least once a week.  Some are very short quick hikes that will at least get you outdoors for an hour or two.

IN FACT! I'm even going on a hike today with my great friend Kyle Calhoun :).  We are going on a hike up to a waterfall in San Juan Capistrano.  I am very excited about this one!  Pictures soon to follow!