It hit me this past weekend that I’m almost 30. For so long, 30 seemed old. Now it’s kind of the new 20 (but you go to bed earlier and can’t drink as much). It’s funny that at 18, I thought I would have been married for at least 5 years by now, and have a couple of kids, living in Raleigh, NC, and have a house-full of dogs, too. Even at 22, I thought I’d have kids by now.
But we don’t. Instead, we have our two furbabies that I treat like kids (we celebrated Tucker’s 8th birthday this weekend with a trip to Petsmart for new toys that he picked out, a big belly rub and cuddle-sesh mid-morning, a long walk with the whole family and then cupcakes after dinner).
At almost 30, I think we’ll definitely have a kid by the time 32 rolls around for me (35 for my husband), maybe even two – but we’re not in a hurry. First we want to travel more, starting with our European vacation this summer and South Africa next spring. Knocking a few more things off the list before we change up our lives completely.
I have always LOVED celebrating birthdays (or any other random holiday, or reason I can find to celebrate). Some of my favorite birthdays have been spent having large gatherings with friends, or visiting beaches with my husband (this year we did Key West). I was inspired by a few lists/challenges I’ve seen others doing to knock things off of a somewhat “bucket list” before they turn 30.
Emily Thomas, author of Em For Marvelous is doing a 60 before 30 list. Some girls I went to college with are trying to rack up 30 race medals before they turn 30. I think I’ll stick with being my random self and doing just 30 different things before I turn 30.
30 before 30
- Do 3 more 10k runs (equaling 30k) — 2nd goal? Get my sister-in-law to run one with me.
- Volunteer for 30 hours with a charity (or multiple charities)
- Do 30 hours of yoga
- Visit Paris
- Visit London
- Visit Ireland
- Foster (3) dogs (if I said 30, I might be getting divorced before I turn 30, so we’ll stick with 3)
- Go to Charleston
- Go to Savannah
- Read 30 books
- Write 30 blog posts
- Go on a tropical vacation (I’m thinking Costa Rica, Belize, Turks & Caicos, San Juan…)
- Take a cooking class
- Help 5 more items be crossed off the Pretty in Pink bucket lists
- Celebrate our two year wedding anniversary (and 6 year dating anniversary)
- Visit Tonya in Colorado
- Go zip-lining
- Have an album with our wedding/anniversary pictures created
- Run another half marathon | Hokie Half | Jekyll Island Half | Savannah Half
- Pay off another student loan
- Re-organize our master closet
- Get a porch swing (or my grandfather’s glider)
- Learn how to use my SLR in manual
- Learn how to do calligraphy (I have the class paid for, all the materials…. time?)
- See Florence + the Machine in concert
- Spend a weekend with my BFF Sarah
- Meet my BFF Brittney’s new son, Holden
- Go whitewater rafting
- Eat more tomatoes from our garden than the squirrels do this year
- Get my thesis published
I know some of these items are technically already planned, and that’s okay. I need to follow thru with them. I’m excited to tackle these things in the next 10 months, and to continue working on saying ‘yes’ when people ask us to do things (instead of eating in our neighborhood and binge watching House of Cards), being more patient with people, trying to be more timely / not 5 minutes late to everything in life, and crushing it at work.
The last one is tough for me because I’ve gotten in a groove and I feel pretty good at my job, I’m recognized for doing a good job and I’m in a good place. There have been some opportunities lately that I’ve looked into but they’ve all asked that I move to Boston if offered the job and I just don’t want to move to Boston. I LOVE Charlotte. I love our life here. I love our friends here. I love our house here. I love how close we are to both of our families. And I know that if I move there, I won’t have the chance to move back here and stay with the same company (most likely – things change!). NC feels like home to us. For the right opportunity, we might consider moving, but right now I’m in a good spot, and I’m okay. I don’t need a career change. So… yeah. Onto tackling my 30 before 30 list. I will update as items are able to be marked off.
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I’m still trying to raise money to help cancer champions mark items off of their bucket lists, you can read more and donate here. I heard about another lady in NC trying to do a similar thing (on a larger scale) and I am going to try to combine forces with her. Stay tuned!
All the happy things 