Day 70: WEIRD FOOD - FRIED LAMB TESTICLES.

365 Firsts/Day 70: 

WEIRD FOOD - FRIED LAMB TESTICLES. 

I was feeling ballsy today so I stopped at the famous Cattleman's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City for some fried lamb testicles, better known as "Lamb Fries". One of my friends called me nuts for trying this and I'm just like, "don't testie me". Sorry, enough ball puns for one day. They tasted... funky. A little bit like an oyster mixed with chicken. Definitely not my favorite but they aren't horrible! I'll stick to, um, not balls from now on.  FOOD - FRIED LAMB TESTICLES. I was feeling ballsy today so I stopped at the famous Cattleman's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City for some fried lamb testicles, better known as "Lamb Fries". One of my friends called me nuts for trying this and I'm just like, "don't testie me". Sorry, enough ball puns for one day. They tasted... funky. A little bit like an oyster mixed with chicken. Definitely not my favorite but they aren't horrible! I'll stick to, um, not balls from now on. 

Day 69: Off-road Trip to the Desert

365 Firsts/Day 69: 

OFF-ROAD TRIP TO THE DESERT

My mom and I took a couple of ROUGH dirt and sand roads out into the middle of nowhere in the desert of New Mexico. We were actually looking for the spot in Breaking Bad where Walt and Jesse first cooked meth in the desert of To'hajiilee but we had to stop when we got pretty far out because of an impassible creek bed. 

The southwest and the desert is probably my favorite type of landscape. It's pretty extreme yet peaceful at the same time which I like. I can definitely say I've never done this before and I'm so glad I did because it's gorgeous out here and you don't really get to see it unless you're a little adventurous/slightly insane. 

Day 68: Breaking Bad Tour

365 Firsts/Day 68: 

BREAKING BAD TOUR - ALBUQUERQUE, NM. 

Well, my life is pretty much complete! I'm completely obsessed with Breaking Bad (as many of you know since I've probably been bugging you forever to watch it) and have been since I saw the very first episode back in 2008. I've seen the whole series through so many times that I have basically everything memorized so it was so cool seeing so many of the locations that they filmed at, including: Walter White's house, Jesse Pinkman's house and his apartment, the laundromat, Los Pollos Hermanos, the car wash, the parking garage, DEA headquarters, Walt's naked grocery store stomping grounds and a lot more I won't mention because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen the show yet.

 AND, we did the tour in one of the RV's the kept on the backlot for filming. I'm a little bit of a nerd, not bad at all, but when it comes to this I was like the biggest nerd/fan of all time and this was definitely my favorite thing I've done personally for myself on 365 Firsts so far. 

Big thanks to my mom (who I converted into a big fan years ago) for taking this road trip out here with me and being pretty awesome all around! It's been great and there's still plenty more to do. Can't wait! I'll write a lot more about it in my blog coming up and also make a video so check those out later if you're interested. 

Day 67: Add Graffiti to Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas

365 Firsts/Day 67: 

ADD GRAFFITI TO CADILLAC RANCH, AMARILLO, TX.

The start of our Breaking Bad road trip! Headed to New Mexico and traveling through Texas right now. I had graffiti on my list of things to do and there aren't too many places better to do it then Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX, which is famous for encouraging people to add graffiti to their buried Cadillac's. I've seen it on TV and in a movie or two so I'm glad I got to do it! 

Day 66: First Sonogram

365 Firsts/Day 66: 

FIRST SONOGRAM

I got to see my little niece or nephew for the first time! Pretty exciting for me since this will make me a first time uncle and I have no grandparents and just a teeny-tiny family all around. We're all pretty excited for this addition. This was also my first sonogram in general. Big thanks to my sister-in-law, Britney, for, ya know... hosting the baby. This was her idea for my first and I'm so glad I got to share it with her and my brother, Brian. Love you guys! 

Day 65: Poach an Egg

365 Firsts/Day 65:

Poach an Egg

65 days down, 300 to go!

Day 64: Massive Straw Bridge

365 Firsts/Day 64: 

Massive Straw Bridge

365 Firsts/Day 64: MASSIVE STRAW BRIDGE (half fail). Ok, so the 340 foot, 552 straw bridge was built, and failed. THEN, a second 340 foot straw bridge was built and taped. That one had no leaks, but it's just physically impossible for it to work. SO, I cut it down to about a 1/4 of that and then it finally worked. A hot, stale Coca Cola has never tasted so good in my entire life. This took the entire day. I'm tired. Frustrated. Sore. Annoyed. But, failure is a part of the 365 Firsts too, so, there ya go. Good thing I have a ton of patience because patience was definitely required for this and I want to thank my family for dealing with a son who does weird and crazy things like this and helped me so much through today. It was a task for sure. Definitely the most time consuming and annoying thing I've done so far in 365 Firsts. Glad it's done to be honest, but also glad I tried it out because now I can stop daydreaming about that massive straw bridge connecting my parents and brothers house that I've been thinking about ever since their house was built. Ya try, ya fail. Ya try again, ya fail. It's life. But then you try again and again and again and change your approach, then you succeed. Even two stupid, massive straw bridges can teach you that lesson. 

Day 63: Crash a Wedding

365 Firsts/Day 63: 

Crash a Wedding

Step 1: Look the part. I don't even know the names of the people who are getting married and nobody there except one person. I'm driving up to Peoria to either be another one in the crowd or to be interrogated about who I am and who I know. 

I met the bride and groom, Sasha and Jordan Sarver and told them what I was doing during the dollar dance. They were so cool about it! I'm so glad I did this one because it was a total blast and the couple couldn't have been any happier or nicer. Very cool. 

Day 62: Bake a Pie from Scratch

365 Firsts/Day 62: 

Bake a Pie from Scratch

I was waiting for a special occasion for this one and I thought baking a pie from scratch to celebrate my good friend Ash graduating from the University of Nebraska with her Master's Degree in Entomology seemed like as good of time as any. She's worked unbelievably hard for this and she deserves things like... blackberry pies. Pies for days! After she gets her Ph.D from Ohio State in a few years I'll have to make a Turducken-Pie-Cake or something. I also want to congratulate my good friend and fake sister Sandy for receiving her Master's Degree in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee who this pie is also for and who worked incredibly hard and also deserves pies for days! They're both pretty dang smart and cool. Now I hope they like blackberry pie because this was my first pie and it was all straight from scratch so I'm going to have to force feed it to them if they don't. 

Day 61: Water Skiing

365 Firsts/Day 61:

Water Skiing (part 2-Drive a Boat) 

This was so much fun! I failed repeatedly but finally the last time around I stood up for about 30 seconds. I've got some bruises and I don't know if I'll be able to have children later on in life (if you know what I mean) but it was awesome! And I got to this with my fake sister, Cassandra, who I haven't seen in a year and her super cool brother in law, Luke, who let me go out on his boat. 

Day 60: BE FEATURED IN MY OWN NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.

 

Check out the article here! http://goo.gl/uvLsfE

 Besides the times for sports back in high school, this is the first article that's ever been written about my personal life or 365 Firsts, so I'm really happy about that and feel very honored! The State Journal Register in Springfield, IL, and Dave Bakke who wrote this article are good people. Hopefully this can extend the reach of 365 Firsts a little bit and get more people to step out of their comfort zone and try new things and also do good for other people along the way. I've had a lot of you tell me that you've actually tried some new things because you've been keeping up with 365 Firsts and I've interacted with people on Instagram that have paid it forward with some of the random acts of kindness I've done. That is exactly why I'm doing this along with trying to enrich my own life and that makes me beyond happy to hear that and see it and I'm just really excited to see what else happens in this year. It's already been an insane year before I even started this project and there are 305 more days after today left in 365 Firsts. That's a lot of days. It's bound to get even better, tougher, scarier, crazier, exciting and any other adjective you wanna use. I am so happy I started this project because I have grown so much in just a short two month period and seen other people do great things and I'm totally dedicated to this and in love with the project. If I'm going to be 100% honest without sugar-coating anything though, there are also some days when it feels like a bit of a grind. It's not always easy, but days like today and people like you help to push me forward through any grind or frustration I may experience and I feel very grateful for that and I quickly remember how lucky I am that I have the opportunity to do this. That's all the motivation and reality check that I need. Thanks again for all of your support! 

Day 59: Get a "Crazy" Haircut

365 Firsts/Day 59: 

GET A "CRAZY" HAIRCUT

 I stepped way out of my comfort zone for this one and told my hairstylist Lauren Krupp to just surprise me and give me whatever haircut she wanted and to make it a little bit crazy or unique. I think she did a great job! I've always been pretty tame when it comes to haircuts. Even though it took a few minutes to adjust since it's so different than what I'm used to, she did a great job as always and I actually really like it. I got looked at funny by some of the geriatric mid-westerners when I went grocery shopping afterwards but I could really care less. This would look pretty standard in L.A. or New York. It's all relative. I don't know why I've always been so conservative with my hair when I'm not in basically any other aspect of my life, so I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave it a shot. It grows back. Thanks Lauren! I should've had this during the World Cup so I could've been exactly like all of the players, except you know, different in every other way possible.

Day 58: Be Interviewed by the State Journal Register Newspaper (SJR)

365 Firsts/Day 58:

Be Interviewed by the State Journal Register Newspaper

It's an honor that I was given the opportunity to share what I'm doing with 365 Firsts with the State Journal Register. It's nice to know that people are supporting it and to see that people are actually going out and doing new things because they saw somebody else do it. Mr. Dave Bakke interviewed me and was just great the whole time. This thing is only partly for myself and none of it is "about me" and I've said that all along. If I can inspire people to even do something as simple as take a different route to work, I've done something. Or if I can inspire people to do some random acts of kindness, that's great. So thanks again for your support and this honor and check out the article when it comes out this Wednesday!  www.sj-r.com 

Day 57: Summer Kindness

365 Firsts/Day 57: 

Summer Kindness 

I almost got caught on this one! It's really hot today so I bought a couple of water guns and some bubbles and stalked the Walmart parking lot for an unassuming family or parent and kids. I came across a van that has one of those stickers on the back with the little stick figures on it that shows how many people are in the family and this one had FIVE kids. Perfect. I was getting stared at by four employees who were collecting carts and when I realized it I just kind of stared back and then turned around and got in my car and drove a little bit away and parked. Super sneaky, I know. At the exact moment I parked, a college aged kid came up to the van and saw the stuff, picked up the note and read it. The guy loaded the van full of groceries and shortly after that the mom and two little kids about age 7 and 5 came over. I saw them talking for a minute and then he got in the van and she opened the door. He had put everything in the drivers seat. She took out the note and started reading it and I saw her smiling a bunch and then she opens the back door where the kids are and hands them the bubbles and water guns. It was awesome to see her smile and actually see kids reaching for the stuff. I really hope they do go out and use them today because it wasn't about the actual items as much as it was about maybe getting a parent or two who is always so busy to take a break from the madness and have some fun with their kids because that's just as important as raising them in my opinion. I know I'm blessed with a good life so I might as well splurge a little for other people and spread some goodness or whatever you want to call it around every once in a while I can. 

Day 56: Chatroulette

365 Firsts/Day 56:

Chatroulette 

365 Firsts/Day 56: CHATROULETTE. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. I have the funniest friends and when you mix that with Chatroulette, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard. Alden just sat there silent with his shirt off. Teagan was making cheesecake and every perverted guy we came across that asked about her we told them it was our mom and then we'd scream at her to make more cheesecake. We talked to people from Italy, Turkey, China and the 4 coolest New Zealanders ever that know 4 facts about America: 1) we have corn. 2) we call female adults women instead of "Sheila's". 3) Obama runs the country (they pronounced it Orbarma). 4) we have a lot of states. It was hilarious. 

Day 55: Hold a Tarantula

I conquered my biggest fear! I've always been scared of spiders, especially big ones if we're stating the obvious. So, it seemed like a good idea to hold a giant Rose Hair tarantula named Medusa. I was completely freaking out (in a manly way of course) when Medusa first started crawling on my arm because it was crawling up it, you know, where my face is. My heart was pounding and I was shaking, but Medusa just found a nice little resting spot on my arm and stayed there for a good 5 minutes. If I can do it, anyone can. You can do a lot more than you think and I've really started to realize that through this 365 Firsts. I never in a million years thought I'd do that. Now I have. No big deal. I've knocked two of my biggest fears out, sky diving later this month should be a breeze. A terrifying, 120 mph, 12,000ft drop, breeze. Happy 4th of July!!!

Day 53: Make a Signature Drink

365 Firsts/Day 53:

Make a Signature Drink

I made up a drink and it turned out.... eh lol BUT, it had sherbet in it, so it's a victory. 

Day 54: Eat at an Indian Restaurant

365 Firsts/Day 54: 

Eat at an Indian Restaurant 

I've been missing out! The food was so good and it's been here the whole time I've lived here and I never gave it a shot. I've always sort of lived by this motto, but you gotta give stuff a shot. Otherwise, you'll never know if you love it or hate it or if you want more of it or never want it again. That goes for something as simple as food all the way up to big things in your life.  

Day 52: Drink 5 Shots of Espresso

365 Firsts/Day 52: 

Drink 5 Shots of Espresso

Wooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!782!,8;'azi&73$3).72@'djxoen&,&3'ximem9nnn'nnnn!!!'nnn:$283!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!