I remember when I was going through all of my stuff before I moved to California and I found an essay I wrote for school in 2nd grade – “Who I am at 25”. Well I could kick my 2nd grade self when I read further about being married with two children, living in Hawaii, and saving sea turtles for a living. Ahh kids are cute and naïve.
But it did get me to thinking and making big changes in my life. I was at rock-bottom satisfaction levels when it came to life and it finally spawned me on a rampage to face my fears and do things I wanted to – I got my first tattoo, went skydiving, and packed up everything I owned and drove cross-country to move to California… among others.
But now I’m getting settled again, and although half of my job entails encouraging others to chase after their dreams and set goals for themselves, I’ve been less than adherent to doing it for myself. We get so busy in life that we forget to make times for the things we want to do or things that just make us giggle.
So when Coach Panda was discussing her ‘30 by 30’ list today, I was pretty inspired. I thought to myself, “Damn, I need one of those!” Not only do I need to do it but I need to document it so that I stay on top of it, can invite friends to share in my adventures with me, and if I’m lucky- to have people remind me and harass me when I get off track.
So, I may only have 18 months left before the big three-ohhh, but here it is:
My 30 before 30
1.) Dye my hair pink
2.) Vacation in Hawaii
3.) Visit another country
4.) Move to an apartment with gardening space & sun
5.) Raft or kayak the Mississippi
6.) Apply to grad school
7.) Camp in Yosemite and Big Sur
8.) Help my roller derby team land a larger venue with 2,000+ capacity
9.) Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium
10.) Go wine tasting in Napa
11.) Eat at Jaime from Top Chef’s restaurant in SF
12.) See a burlesque show
13.) Complete a scrapbook of my pre-30 adventures
14.) Make a vase (glass blowing or pottery)
15.) Clean out my entire closet and purge at least a garbage bag of stuff
16.) Complete my box of sewing to-do projects
17.) Start my 401k and an IRA (sooo overdue)
18.) Get in the best shape of my life
19.) Go on a whale watch in California
20.) Download 500 new songs to my iTunes
21.) Be an extra in a zombie film
22.) Completely skip a Christmas
23.) See the grunion run
24.) Make a large art project for my living space
25.) Host a wine tasting & appetizer party for a few close friends
26.) Make an amazing sand castle
27.) Watch every movie Zoey Dechanel has been in
28.) Visit half of the U.S. states
29.) Get another tattoo
30.) Get a raise at my job so I can afford to do everything on my list
