Yesterday, I celebrated my thirtieth birthday. I’m truly looking forward to this next decade, and I think my thirties will be the best years yet! So now that my birthday has come and gone, it’s time to see how I did with my 30 Before Thirty list. I had given myself six and a half months to do everything.
I finished all of these…
- 1. Visit the Modern Wing of The Art Institute of Chicago. (Done!)
- 2. Dye my hair red. (Done!)
- 5. Stop drinking soda. (Done!)
- 6. Lose 20 pounds. (Not drinking soda should help.) (Done!)
- 8. Sew a dress for Eleanor. (Done!)
- 10. Donate some of our books to the library. (Done!)
- 11. Cook Pad Thai from scratch. (Done!)
- 12. Organize the catch-all closet in my office. (Done!)
- 13. Get good at applying liquid eyeliner. (Done!)
- 14. Print the bajillion photos I have stored on my computer and put them in albums. (Done!)
- 15. Alphabetize our CDs and finish putting them into sleeves. (Done!)
- 16. Landscape the front of the house. (Done!)
- 17. Make an origami paper crane. (Done!)
- 18. Visit the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe. (Done!)
- 19. Learn how to use my camera in manual mode. (Done!)
- 20. Find my perfect shade of lipstick. (Done!)
- 21. Decide for good whether I want a tattoo or not. (Done!)
- 22. Pay off my credit card. (Done!)
- 23. Make a video montage of Eleanor’s first year. (Done!)
- 24. Have a date night with Brandon at least twice a month. (Done!)
- 25. Grow tomatoes. (Done!)
- 26. Have an adorable family photo taken. (Done!)
- 27. Sing along perfectly to “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. (Done!)
- 28. Take Eleanor to the Shedd Aquarium. (Done!)
- 29. Reduce (or eliminate) my reliance on paper towels. (Done!)
I didn’t finish these…
- 3. Finish redesigning my Smart & Lovely portfolio. (It’s in progress.)
- 4. Launch my design service. (I need to finish the portfolio first.)
- 7. Repaint my office. (I’m going to wait and see how the white trim looks first.)
* 08.16.11: Done!) - 9. Clean out the basement. (It’s getting scary down there, but we’ll get it done.)
* 11.02.10: Done! - 30. Paint all of the trim in our house. (I made progress, but the dining room took forever.)
But here are a few things that I did finish in addition to the items on my list…
- Painted and redecorated our bedroom. (Check it out!)
- Traveled to San Francisco for the Mighty Summit. (So inspiring.)
- Took a trip to Backbone State Park in Iowa for the Balch family reunion. (Very nice, but a long drive.)
- And oh yeah, I began growing another human life. (That’s kind of a big one, and a big part in why I didn’t completely finish my list in time.)
Along the way, many of you made 30 Before Thirty lists of your own (and many variations thereof, including a 30 Before Seventy list by a 67 year old woman). That just makes me incredibly happy. After a weekend spent concentrating on achieving dreams and goals, it seems fitting to wrap things up today. Next, I’m going to have to get going on my life list!
