30 by 30 #26–Buy a design program

Although my job is copywriting, I work with designers all day and I've become pretty interested in the design side of things.  So I thought it would be cool to get a design program to play around with at home.

The only problem is that design programs are very expensive. The plan was to go with a starter program like Photoshop Elements since it's not like it's for my career.

Then something awesome happened. AJ has been helping out at church and they wanted him to get in a little design stuff, so they offered to buy us Photoshop Elements! Very generous of them. And since AJ uses my Mac, I get the program too.

I haven't had a chance to play around too much yet, but I'm excited to have it and AJ has definitely been having some fun playing around with pictures of our dog!

30 by 30 #25–Get a great permanent job

This was a big one.

For the last year, I have been working as a copywriter, which has been a really great job with fun people that I really enjoyed. The only problem was that I was on a one-year contract, covering someone's maternity leave.

As the end of my contract drew nearer, I had to start thinking about the future so I didn't find myself unemployed again. I knew that my boss and co-workers liked me, but that's not really enough.

Turns out my hard work all year paid off because they offered me a job. In fact, they offered me the job I was already doing and really enjoyed! The woman who came back from maternity leave was given another job that ended up suiting her really well.

And so, I'm not a permanent employee at a job I really like and didn't even have to give up my desk! Awesome!

30 by 30 #21–Go white water rafting

Check another one–a fun one!–off the list. My husband gave away a trip to go white water rafting on his radio show and I got the chance to go with him and "chaperone." The winners were all over 18 so it really wasn't chaperoning. More of a fun trip really.

We went to Horizon X in Ile du grand calumet in Quebec. I have technically been white water rafting one other time, in B.C., but it was on one of those huge rafts for about 20 people and all you have to do is hold on. That is exactly what we weren't looking for on this trip, which is why we picked Horizon X. It's more of a cottage atmosphere, with incredibly friendly staff and small, 6-7 person boats where we had to do lots of paddling.

It was a little scary, but mostly an adventure. The guides were very knowledgeable and talented and made the whole experience, including the 8am bus ride, tons of fun. The rapids were pretty intense, but it was part of their jobs for the guides to make it even more intense and cause the raft to purposefully flip. This was fine until one time I fell out and came back up under the boat. I took in a lot of water on that one and was pretty hesitant to fall out of the boat after that. But I pushed that back and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

Back at camp we were able to play some volleyball, enjoy some relaxing time in the hammock and canoe a little. The second day we opted for bodyboarding. The same rapids, minus the boat, just your body and a board. I tried a couple rapids, but stayed in the boat for the most part with one of my friends who won the trip and enjoyed watching everyone else.

I had lots of fun and even more fun watching AJ have such a great time. I'd try it again for sure!

30 by 30 Reading List Update

After two unsuccessful tries, I finally managed to pick up my friend Ashley's favourite book at the library. Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

This book was written for young adults, but Ashley assured me that it was amazing anyway. And she was right.

Graceling is a fantasy story about a world where some children are born with "Graces" or special talents. It follows Kasta whose Grace is killing and is being used by the King as his personal hitman.

Kasta goes on a special mission as she escapes the hold of the king and falls in love along the way.

It was a really easy read and well-written no matter what bookshelf I found it on. I found myself reading it every spare moment I got because it drew me into the story so much.

Definitely one I would recommend and I'll be looking for more from Kristin Cashore next time I visit the library.

Good recommendation Ash!