Wednesday, January 25, 2012

30 Before 30 List

So every January I do what I think a lot of people probably do - think of all the things we want to change in our lives and try to come up with "resolutions".  Often the resolutions are so vague - " I want to eat out less" " I want to blog more " I want to go to the gym more often" "I want to go outside more". Then I think "ehh... resolutions are stupid - you can't make me do them!" (I have a problem with authority even if that authority is me telling myself what to do - I have to say no because nobody tells me what to do - not even me!) Anyways.. I had been seeing a lot of these "30 before 30" (or 26 before 26 etc) lists on the blogs lately and I thought it was a kind of a neat way to come up with a list of things I want to accomplish in a year - some that are tiny goals leading up to those big lofty resolutions and some things that are just silly.  Yesterday I turned 29 (and I'm hoping I at least look 15 by now!) so I came up with a list of 30 things I want to accomplish by the time I turn 30 - January 24, 2013:  

  1. Clean out closets and donate everything I don’t need/use
  2. Learn to use camera in manual mode
  3. Buy reusable shopping bags and use them at the grocery store
  4. Make more of an effort to shop local
  5. Go on a road trip
  6. Fix my bicycle and use it.
  7. Visit Washington DC
  8. Double my blog readership
  9. Take a photo of Dustin and I together at least once a month
  10. Read 24 books
  11. Try out 30 new recipes
  12. Take a class
  13. Get a tattoo
  14.  Let go of negative memories and relationships and focus on building happier and healthier relationships.
  15. Discover 20 new things/places about Richmond
  16. Celebrate a holiday at my own house.
  17. Sacrifice something I don’t really need in order to save money
  18. Go to the movies by myself
  19. Hike 5 different trails
  20. Go 10 days in a row without eating out
  21. Decorate my house – put some art on those walls!
  22.  Make 5 projects using my sewing machine (and one of them has to be entirely made of fabric – no paper!)
  23. Cut my hair
  24. Sleep 8 hours in a row- at least once!
  25. Make something I have seen on Pinterest
  26. Go to a festival
  27. Double the items in my Etsy shop
  28.  Finally create a wedding album (before I forget everything that happened!)
  29.  See the final Twilight with Danielle
  30. Organize the house and come up with a system to keep it clean
Photobucket

4 comments:

janine said...

I can totally relate to the 'people not telling me what to do (and sometimes not even myself)'....lol And, it seems the older I get, the worse this trait is. Your 30 Before 30 is a great list--and great idea. I'm with you on the resolutions. I rarely even make them anymore and, the ones that I do, never seems to last too long. In fact, if I made any at the start of this year, I've already forgot what they were....lol I should, instead, come up with a list like the one you made. Except, of course, the number would be higher. I was 29, what seems like a lifetime ago.

Jasmine said...

Fantastic list Melissa! Good luck with it all, I'm cheering you on!
Jasmine

Kathi said...

i want to adopt your list...

HawaiianLibrarian said...

Totally love the affirmative resolution to do, not change, in a year. I have a lot more to do than you before my January birthday next year but there's no time like the present to pen the list and just do it! Mahalo for the fabulous idea.