30 By 30

1. Successfully Make A Soufflé.

I love to bake. From everything I’ve ever heard, seen, and read about soufflés, I was terrified to even try. But it was soooo easy!

2. Learn the Ashtanga Yoga Sequence

I especially love the Ashtanga practice because it is something I can take anywhere with me now that I have the sequence nailed down. I won’t need an instructor or a video, and I can practice it anywhere (even on a beach!) at any time.

3. Get A Passport (And Use It!)

As much as I love to travel, I’ve never had a passport or gone anywhere that required me having one. Then I went to Guatemala for two weeks.

4. Host and Cater a Party for 30 People

Done!

5. Quit Smoking

Unless you are or have been an addict, it is really difficult to understand that this truly is an addiction. I’ve heard that there won’t be another day of my life where I don’t crave one, but I do know how incredibly important it is that I quit. Wish me luck!

6. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

Considering my fear of heights, this one will definitely be quite a feat. There is a company in Bloomington, IN that offers Hot Air Balloon rides, but I would love to do it in Michigan (in the late summer, of course!), Hawaii, or Europe. 🙂

7. Hike on the Appalachian Trail

I’m not going to hike the entire thing. But, I’m not too awfully far from part of the trail. I would love to spend a day or two hiking along it for a number of miles. I’ll most likely hike part of a section in Tennessee since I’ve always wanted to visit Gatlinburg and Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

8. Write Another Song

While in high school I wrote numerous songs. I even did a CD recording for my Senior Project and had a CD recorded in college. I haven’t had regular access to a piano (my instrument of choice) since college. I have a guitar, but I’ve never been inclined to do too much with it. (Hurts my fingers, hinders my creative process because I’m not eloquent with it enough).

9. Run a 5K

I’m not much of a runner. Running is yet another thing that I detest. I always joke that my dog takes me running the few times a year that I actually do, and he does. So, while I am trying to get in shape, I might as well shake up my workout routine with some traditional cardio. At least it will help my pups get and stay in shape.

Update: I ran 3 5K’s in 2013!

10. Read Regularly

I’ve never been much of a reader until I made this goal. My ADD gets in the way, and I always find myself hung up on the typos, grammatical errors, or choice of verbiage. The pile of books that I want to read keeps growing. Here are a few I hope to knock out by 4/17/2015:

  • Hunger Games Trilogy
  • Atlas Shrugged
  • Daring Greatly
  • Divergent Trilogy

11. Maintain a Healthy(ish) Lifestyle

With my family history, I definitely have some lifestyle changes I need to make. So far I’m making pretty decent progress with a fairly healthy diet. My dogs also keep me active, so I am getting more exercise these days.

More importantly I’m beginning to focus on a more well-rounded vision of “health”, including reducing my anxiety and focusing more on my mental and emotional health, too. I especially am trying to focus on accepting myself just as I am. While I want to lose weight to reduce my risk for disease later on in life, I also want to live my life to the fullest. (Read: I still eat ice cream. And chocolate. And cheesecake at every chance I get.)

This goal will require life-long commitment, and there is no “finish line”. But, for the purposes of my 30 By 30 list, I’ve certainly made enough improvements to consider this goal accomplished.

12. Visit Every Art Museum and Gallery In Indy

I finally found a map created by IDADA listing all local galleries and more. There are a TON of galleries in Indy! I had no idea. Now I do. And now I will visit them all. Before April 2015. EEeee!  Check out my progress!

13. Volunteer

I did a lot of missions work in grade school, and I’ve been passively looking for a place around Indy to volunteer for. I would love to volunteer on a somewhat regular basis (even once every 6 months). I want to find somewhere to volunteer that serves a purpose close to my heart.

14. Meditate Daily for 30 Days

I took a meditation class in college where we went through 20-30 different meditation practices. At the time, I realized that it was a powerful tool to help ease my habitual anxiety but I unfortunately did not adopt it as a regular practice. Since then, I seem to have forgotten nearly every method I learned (though, a few have become ingrained in me enough that I still use them from time to time).

With all the recent studies on the benefits of meditation, and especially the benefit that I have the few and far between times that I practice it, I definitely want to make this a more regular part of my daily habits.

15. Raise My Credit Score

Woot!

16. Minimize My Debt

Now to appease Sallie Mae….

17. Learn How to Be Still

I can be slightly Type A at times. My job requires it. I am a sensational organizer. I love lists, and especially the satisfaction of checking things off of them. (Hence, this list.) I have goals and dreams and a billion things I want to do. But, I need to learn how to appreciate the momentwhat I have, where I am, and who I ambefore I will ever be able to be satisfied with any stage in my life.

18. Successfully Grow A Garden Plant

I do not have a green thumb. At all.

I eventually would love to have my own full garden that I harvest most of my produce from. This year I started with tomatoes, red peppers, chocolate mint, greek basil, and purple basil.

19. Start Recycling

I used to recycle when I lived in Bloomington. The city offers a free recycling program conjoined with trash pick-up. It made it completely effortless for residents. I’ve been under the impression that Indy doesn’t have any recycling program (they do; you just have to pay for it), and I wasn’t sure where recycling locations were or where to find this info.

Thankfully, the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful website has all this information and more!

20. Find and Attend An Advanced Cooking Class

Specifically, I want expand my knowledge of the chemistry behind cooking and what flavors pair well together. This will help to increase my creativity when cooking. I get bored. Quickly.

This might be a challenge in Indy, though. I know there is some sort of culinary institute nearby, but I’m not sure of the caliber or cost.

21. Vote in Every Election

Coming up soon! And, also, research all of the candidates thoroughly.

22. Write A Novel

I’ve always loved writing, and I’ve recently started writing a book. I’m not sure that I’ll ever have it published or even make it available for anyone to read. But I definitely want to finish writing this before I turn 30. (Otherwise it will probably never be “done”.)

23. Learn More About Wine

After my trip to Sonoma in 2013, I noticed how much more knowledgeable I was when picking out wines at the store. I’m not certain I’ll ever have the “taste” required to actually be a sommelier, but it will be fun to continue learning more and more. Here are the wineries I’ve visited so far:

24. Apply for a Master Program

In a round-about way, I’ve accomplished this. I guess my real underlying goal was to determine if a graduate degree was necessary for me. I’ve decided that, for me and my career path, it isn’t necessary and it certainly is not worth the additional debt.

25. Plan a Trip to Italy

I might not have been able to go before I am thirty, but it won’t be long when I’ll be able to finally go. I’m not going across the Atlantic and only see Italy, though. I have a rough itinerary, budget, and timeline mapped out.

26. Catch a Broadway Show, On Broadway

I saw Cinderella. It was amazing.

Cinderella on Broadway

27. Try Out A Cleanse

I’ve been wanting to do some sort of food cleanse. It was interesting, and I had both good and bad experiences with my first one. It did make it easier to maintain a fairly healthy diet, though. So, I would definitely say it was worth it just for that.

28. Drink a [Real] Martini in a Fancy Dress at a Fancy Place

I really do not care for [real] martinis. Now I know.

29. Move

This has been on my to-do list for years.

30. Learn A Foreign Language

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but I’ve lost quite a bit of that knowledge. When I was in Guatemala, I was able to relearn enough to make it a full week of traveling on my own.

 

 

 

 

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