30 Before 30

Several weeks ago, I started making this list - 30 things that I want to accomplish before I'm 30.  I'll be 27 next month.  I work best under deadlines - and once you see my list, you'll see that three years is pushing it.  However, if I wait any longer in posting this, I'll have to make it a 40 before 40 (and given my procrastination tendencies, I would wait until 37 to get started anyway).  So here we go (in no particular order) -

1.  Visit Washington D.C. with Brandon.  He's the history buff, so I'll need him to tell the importance of all the old stuff I'm looking at :) 

2.  Take the boys to Disney World.  I hope to do this next fall, when they're both a little older, but before we hit the school age years.

3.  Complete a triathlon.  Like I said - I started this list a while ago.

4.  Complete a 5K (kind of odd after having completed the tri, but whatever...)

5.  Go to a concert with Brandon (we've never been to a concert together).

6.  Learn to sew (this will require a sewing machine and time - neither of which I have right now).

7.  Cook a pie from scratch - crust and everything.

8.  Learn to make good/edible biscuits and gravy from scratch.  I've made them before - they were just not good nor edible.

9.  Finish at least one room (the playroom) in the basement (because I swear to all that's holy, if anyone brings another toy into this house, I will beat them with it)

10.  Pay off my one tiny student loan.

11.  Take the boys camping.

12.  Visit Charleston.

13.  Write an article for publication.  

14.  Get a promotion.  You know - the one where your boss says "You're really great at _____, so we want you to do _________.  For more money of course."  

15.  Ride a real passenger train.  Thomas the Train does not count!

16.  Make it back to my wedding weight.  Sigghhhhhhh.

17.  Make a t-shirt quilt with all my old college/sorority tees.  

18.  Take my family to an all-natural/preservative-free way of eating.  This is incredibly hard with the grandparents as babysitters - ***MOM*** I can totally tell when you let the boys eat Cheetos.  Their little fingernails are orange.  :)

19.  Get involved in church.  This is a tough one for me for so many reasons.  For starters, I grew up with a father who was a full-time pastor.  I know how much commitment it takes to get involved whole-heartedly and I'm a whole-hearted kind of girl.  I'm a little gun-shy with that commitment right now.

20.  Start a modern-style book club.  (Let me know if you think you would be interested in doing this).

21.  Make a new life-long friend.  This is always something I want.

22.  Find my talent.

23.  Learn to offer forgiveness more willingly.

24.  Learn more about photography - cameras, lighting, etc.

25.  Win a contest/drawing.  I've never ever ever won anything.  UGH!  But then again, I've quit entering them.

26.  Gather enough awesome family photos to make a gallery wall in my dining room.

27.  Find a solution to the upper-back pain I've suffered with since I was a teenager.

28.  Help someone else achieve one of their dreams or bucket-list items :)

29.  Continue admiring the beauty in my life, rather than the apparent beauty of everyone else's.

30.  Find something, anything that Brandon and I have in common.  We have NO similarities in television, movies, music or pastimes - which is probably why we've never been to a concert together :)

As you can see, this list is a complete hodgepodge of things that are meaningful to me.  Many of them require a certain amount of funds, so consequently another goal is to save a few bucks in the next 3 years. I'm sure that many of the things on my list, you've already done or know how to do.  So help a girl out - if you're a pro at pie crusts or biscuits, let me know!  If you want to join a book club - give me a shout.