#18 Hire someone to do something that I don't like doing...

Sometimes, it's hard to afford the life you want.  When you're fresh out of college, with a entry level salary, living in a city that's twice as expensive as the rest of the nation, paying $1600 for a teensy studio apartment... It's tough.  So you don't splurge on any extras.  You go to dive bars, you beg your dad to be your handyman (and take you out to dinner later), and you definitely clean your own apartment.  (Tough life, right?!?)

Now that I'm (almost) 30, and more "established" in my career, I'm finding it's both easy and not easy to adjust from my former 22 year old budget.  It's definitely easy to go out to dinner with friends more often, travel for girls weekends, and buy tickets to a Broadway play... but at the same time, it's not easy to allow yourself to spend money on a task that you are capable of doing. For example, painting a room, grocery shopping, or cleaning the apartment.  Those are things I can do - I'm not an expert, but I know enough to do them relatively well.  It's not like a plumber, where I definitely need to get help from a pro. 

So on a Saturday in May, I spent a gorgeous day indoors, cleaning the living room.  I vacuumed, windexed, and dusted.  And it took me ALL morning and ALL afternoon to clean one freaking room.  And that's just ONE room in my apartment, which in total is slightly less than 1,000 square feet.

Prior to that sunny Saturday in May, I had read an article about money rules that'll make you rich.  The very first suggestion was to calculate your "hourly rate".  If you can hire someone to do something for you at an hourly rate than is less than your hourly rate, ESPECIALLY if you dislike the task, then you should hire them, even if you are capable of doing it.  It's called the happiness factor.  Now, I was surprised that an article about getting rich was essentially telling me to spend money, but it makes sense when you think about it...  If I get no enjoyment out of an activity, why torture myself to do it when I can hire someone else to do it, and at a "lesser" hourly rate to boot?  Especially when I can be spending that same time doing something else that I actually enjoy?  They don't say "life is short" because it's not true, now, do they?

Hence #18 Hire someone to do something that I don't like doing... Now, I'll admit - I don't HATE cleaning.  There are definitely worse things in life than cleaning.  But I definitely don't enjoy it, and it takes forever, and let's be honest... I'd rather be doing other things (C'mon, did you not see my list of 30 things to do?  I got plans!)  So, after the fateful Saturday in May when all these thoughts (magazine article + spending a gorgeous day inside cleaning) collided, I started researching cleaning crews to get quotes.  I found one, called them, got a quote, got so excited about the quote (because it was less than my "hourly rate", especially when divided by 2, considering I have a roommate) that I booked them for an introductory appointment on Friday, June 15th.

Well, Friday, June 15th arrives, and it's a freaking fantabulous gorgeous day.   I leave work early to meet the cleaning crew, and when they arrive, I fall in love.  They are an army of seven, super cute, tiny women, carrying buckets, vacuums, mops, brooms, etc.  And they immediately go to town on the apartment. They clean everything.  EVERYTHING. They vacuumed the couch. They cleaned the inside of the microwave.  They took out the trash AND the recycling.  They even changed the sheets on my bed for me!!! And, it only took them 32 minutes (yes, I timed them).

Granted, 7 ladies at 32 minutes is 3 1/2 hours, but still, that would have taken me at least 3 mornings/afternoons to complete.  Plus, the experience of having a cleaning crew come in was incredible... After they left, Ellie and I walked around exclaiming "IT'S SO CLEAN!" and "OMG, IT'S SO CLEAN!".  Half an hour later, I'm still screaming things like "OMG the is SO CLEAN!" Who would have thought that having someone do something for you that you can easily do yourself is so incredible.  And liberating.  No wonder the stars have personal chefs, personal assistants, personal trainers, etc...

So, now I'm sitting on my nice, clean couch in my nice, clean apartment, writing this post, and frankly I'm wondering "why did I wait this long?"  Granted, I didn't think I could afford a cleaning crew back then, and I'm not entirely sure I can afford it now, but I keep reminding myself of that magazine article's advice - you need to take happiness in to account.  Life is here to be lived... and sometimes, you just need to let yourself live it.  And, I now get back at least two Saturdays a month in which I can do just that - live.  And that, my friends, is priceless.

Week 9 update

Week Nine!!!  A little than four weeks left of my challenge...

I spent this past week getting caught up at work after being away for two weeks, getting a cold and getting rid of it (thankfully), and oh just a little something that's called SKYDIVING!!  I survived, so my parents can sleep peacefully :) :) :).  I can't wait to blog about it... hopefully the video and photos arrive this week so I can share with you!

Other updates:

#9: 30 new recipes.  2 new recipes this week for 15 out of 30 - half way there!  New recipes cooked:

• Tomato, kale and feta baked eggs
• Baked salmon with a dijon garlic dill sauce

#10: 10 total items done and blogged!

#12: 30 hours of community service.  I've done about 12 hours so far - I'm the captain for my company's team in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, and I'm coordinating 300 employees in 11 different locations.  It's exhausting, frustrating, and yet, I love this whole event planning and organizing gig!

#24: Quit something I do a lot of.  Um, yeah.  Snoozing is a bad habit that I love.  Hard to kick...

#25: A picture a day for 30 days.  I'm ~21 days in to this challenge, and going strong!!!

#29: Read 30 books.  Still at 10... but working on 11 and 12 right now...

So a little less than four weeks left, and so much left to do!!!  I'm having the TIME OF MY LIFE.  I hope you're enjoying it right along with me :)

#11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list

Each year, I end up taking a full week to celebrate my birthday.  I get to catch up with various groups of friends through dinner or drinks, I buy something sparkly for myself, and Macy's even hosts a fabulously large fireworks celebration on the Hudson River for me!! 

But this year... as much as I love sparkle... I wanted a memory, not another thing.  I wanted something magical, unique, and unlike anything else out there - a memory that sparkles.

My brother (in law) grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and his entire family still lives there.  So, when he and my sister decided to visit, I decided I wanted to visit as well... and so I booked my flight.  Then, I started to put together this challenge, and #11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list was born.  And while my bucket list is long and continuously growing, one of the places that was top on my lists was the Galapagos Islands, mainly because it is part of Ecuador and I have a direct connection to everything Ecuadorian.  :) So I reasoned "Why not splurge on a life changing vacation?"  I mean, you can get married multiple times in your life (and some do!)... but you only turn 30 once.  Might as well celebrate for months, instead of just a week!

So I booked it.  And, I had the most amazing, incredible, magical trip in my entire life.  Now, I've had the good fortune to travel to a lot of great places, like Italy, Hawaii, Greece, Argentina... So here's why this trip to Quito and the Galapagos was so incredible:

First... I got to see my family.  Not my blood family, but the family that my sister married in to, and who are so awesome. Kind, generous, loving.  And they happen to love me, for some reason :)

Second, I got to visit the one tourist site in Quito that I had not visited the last time I traveled to Ecuador in 2005, and I got to do it with my sister and brother.  This is site is SPECIAL, and is called Teleflorica.  Quito is almost 10,000 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains, kinda like an oval bowl shape, and Teleflorica is almost 15,000 feet above sea level.  It is special because it has GREAT views of the city and makes you feel like you're on top of the world:

Third, while hanging out in Quito, I ran my first 5K in three years, which was a special moment for me.

Fourth, I freaking WENT TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!  What a truly magical place!!  From Quito, I flew to San Cristobal, one of the many islands in the Galapagos.  After flying in, my cruise ship company came to pick me up, we took a short bus ride to a dock, and were greeted by this gracious welcome committee:

The first night of the cruise, we stayed in the harbor of San Cristobal and went to the "Centro de Interpretación" (i.e. the Interpretive Center), which is a great little museum explaining how the Galapagos were formed, the first documentations of the island, and the "recent" history of the islands, which was interesting.

The Galapagos Islands are actually made out of volcanoes.  The glass panes represent the ocean surface, so you can see what else remains under water!

On my way back to the boat on day one, I captured the sunset, and a few sea lions taking over the public park benches :)

Throughout the rest of the trip, I had many cool moments, such as:

I had the opportunity to be like a sea lion:

I got to see some small sand crabs skitter up the beach:

I got to go snorkeling (many times!)!!!

 

I saw several beautiful fish, one which was smiling (or growling) at me:

One fish was checking me out ;)

I also saw this really cool sea urchin:

I took a pic with a sea lion and my Terrible Towel (yeahhhh, STEELER NATION made it to the Galapagos!!)

I spied a black iguana among the black lava rocks...

I hiked and climbed over several islands of the Galapagos so I could take amazing photos of the view (our boat is in the background):

I spotted a frigate.  This bird doesn't hunt for its own food.  It harasses other birds (literally grabs on and shakes them) so they get so frazzled and throw up their meals, which the frigate then eats.  Crazy:

I took a pic from the southern-most point of the Galapagos... I'm embracing the sea :)  (Notice a theme with the pics???)

I saw pear cactus trees, which were really cool:

I saw a ton of iguanas (yellow colored this time) that were just chilling on rocks, soaking up the sun, and not minding me regardless of the fact that I was a foot away!

I hung out on beaches that were FULL of sleepy (and sometimes horny) sea lions:

When snorkeling, I got thisclose to sea lions:

I witnessed a manta ray glide along the bottom of the ocean floor:

Saw a HUGE starfish:

Laughed at appropriately placed signs (this one was placed right before a steep drop off to the sea below):

I fell in love with sea lions who show no fear... 

And who are adorably cute snuggling together:

I snorkeled with sea lions, and played with them... they were so curious and playful!!!: 

I was able to capture some video of sea lions playing with me :).  Just phenomenal.  They were so curious and playful, and had no fear, as they hadn't needed to fear mean humans.  Such a cool experience!!! 

I got to try on a large shell from a deceased tortoise that weighed about 50 pounds... this pic is of me doing a plank :)

I nicknamed a giant tortoise Frank, and he allowed me to get close to him for a photo op:

I saw the BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE!

... who have a really funny way of walking, which is why there were named the bobo in Spanish...

...and I also saw the Albatross...

I saw sea lions attempt to scare the tourists by pretending to be sharks (they were floating on their backs with their fins in the air!!):

I met a lot of incredible people:

Me and Socrates, the guide I spent the most tours with.

My newly adopted parents, Rila and Mark from Toronto :)

My new friends from Slovenia, Jersey (originally Phillipines and Switzerland) and Germany :) - we were the United Nations!

Some of the fabulous crew from Tequila night... Mario and Roberto :)

My newly adopted fairy godmothers... Candy and Diane!!!

And I jumped off the cruise ship.  7 meters, 21 feet to the surface.  Here's the composite image of me flying through the air:

This trip will go down in the history of Kimmy as one of my favorite vacations... the sites, the activities, the people, the scenery, the animals, the snorkeling, the blue water... it was perfect, and magical.  This memory will definitely live in my mind, and now on the internet, forever.

I highly recommend a visit to the Galapagos, and HIGHLY recommend the Santa Cruz (the boat that I traveled on).  Great staff, great tours, great food.  Thanks to my brother-in-law and the Andrade Montenegro family, thanks to Southern Explorations for finding this tour for me and working out all the details, and thanks to everyone on the Santa Cruz for making the Galapagos sparkle.