I'm 29! And 30 Things by my 30th Year
It's here. I was not really feeling turning 29.
But then I put on some Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday nail polish, and I immediately started to feel better. I decided to embrace it. In a few years, I'll look back and wonder why I was so worked up over getting another year older. It's just a number.
And after looking back on my 28th year, I realized that I still have many great things to come. After seeing some other bloggers like Joy the Baker and Beantown Baker do a 30 by 30, I wanted to join in the fun.
1. Learn how to knit
2. Learn how to use a sewing machine (Mom, this means I need your help!!!)
3. Start taking vitamins (for real. Not just buying them & stashing them under the sink)
4. Lose 10-15 pounds and maintain it (!!) I want to look like this again:
5. Be better about correspondence with friends; Skype with the friends I’m missing across the country!
6. Learn how to properly use my DSLR - the manual setting, white balance, the whole shebang! Any book recommendations? Or classes?
7. Get our entire home painted via professional painter and lit via professional electrician
8. Organize our den/office so that it is cute and inviting...not serving as a giant storage closet
9. Call my Dad once a week (I already talk to my Mom at least once per day)
10. Call, Skype or email with my sister Christine at least once a week (Kimberly and I are already pretty good at Gchatting almost daily and seeing each other often since she lives in NYC)
11. Find paid freelance assignments
12. Write a book
13. Meet my Dad for lunch or dinner in New York City (where we both work!)
14. Devise organizational system for my shoes (for the first time in my life)
15. Find a spot for my cookbooks where they will be easily accessible...and used!
16. Watch 10 classic films
17. Try bone marrow
18. Get my wedding album made (before our 4th anniversary)
19. Read 5 classic novels (suggestions? I recently read Jane Eyre and adored it)
20. Visit a new US city
21. Make a budget & stick to it, making it possible to grow our savings!
22. Unplug - turn off my computer at a reasonable hour after work. Put the Blackberry on silence. Enjoy quality time with my husband that isn’t disrupted by Facebook, Twitter, the blog, work emails, etc, etc, etc.
23. Make things happen for myself, instead of waiting for them to happen to me.
24. Buy a piece of art. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. But something Shaun and I like!
25. Learn how to make my mom’s famous tomato sauce & meatballs
26. Make at least one new recipe from each cookbook in my collection
27. Host a girl’s night with all my best ladies
28. Eat at 10 new restaurants in New York City (I will already cross one of the list tonight because Shaun is taking me to BLT Steak for dinner!)
29. Make a Top 30 Of All Time playlist...what would your list include?
30. Take time to enjoy life, recognize how lucky I am and spend time with my husband, family and friends. At the end of the day, that's what matters, right?
31. (One for good luck) This is reader's choice. What do you think should be added to this list? Leave me some suggestions and I'll pick one next week to add to the list!
So there you have it. My 30 things by the time I hit 30. I know this is a lofty list, but I have high hopes for year 29 :) I'd better get busy!
And while we're on the subject, what do you think? What are your suggestions for classic movies or books? What would you put on your Top 30 Of All Time playlist? Any recommendations for NYC restaurants to try?
19 Comments | July 14, 2011 | Share Article | Email Article | tagged 30 by 30, Birthday | Print Article | Permalink
Reader Comments (19)
if you liked Jane Eyre you might like Charlotte Bronte's sister Emily's Wuthering Heights...it's a bit dense but so wonderfully done. Also, if you're in the NYC area I'd love to hear how the restaurant Tulsi is.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope you have a fantastic day whoever you may be with. Your last post really inspired me so i wrote last night a bucket list,well sort of! My first plans are actually to save for a whole year to visit NYC,which kind of falls into budgeting also.
Oh Happy happy birthday to a beautiful and amazing woman! Yeah for being 29 and I love your list of 30 things to do! I need to make one of those for myself
Happy Birthday! I love this before 30 idea. If you haven't read Catcher in the Rye or The Great Gatsby they would be some good titles to add to your classics list.
Happy Birthday! I love classic movies. They're always so much better. I could watch Roman Holiday and The King and I on repeat all day.
Watch some Blondie shows, Top Hat. Not exactly classics but fun to watch.
Sounds like a good plan for the year.
Happy Birthday, Love you.
Love this list!!
I would include for you.....maybe a BaBY!? Hahaha...just kidding, although that would be wonderful and I would be sooo happy!!
I love the idea of classics - I agree with Catcher and the Rye...have you read Rebecca?? Loved that one, Mom has it at home in one of her antiquey books!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! enjoy your day. Love reading your blog every morning before work. Your tomato basil soup & car bomb Cupcakes were the best!
Great 30 before 30 list. I used the klutz guide to knitting to get started. Great pictures and directions plus it comes with starter supplies. Let me know if you need help organizing..would be happy to give you some suggestions.
Also I am so jealous you are going to BLT Steak tonight! Nick and I have a BLT gift card and have to choose between BLT prime or BLT steak, sooo your write up better be persuasive!
Happy Birthday!!! As for classic movies, if you haven't already, you should definitely check out the AFI top 100 movies of all time list. Some are obvious (Citizen Kane, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind) but a few of the lesser known ones that are faves of mine would be:
"It Happened One Night" the movie that made undershirt sales plummet because Clark Gable takes off his shirt and isn't wearing one,
"Singin' in the Rain" with the classic Gene Kelly scene singing and dancing in the rain... go figure,
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" which James Cagney made to try and prove he wasn't a communist and because he was tired of playing gangsters. They usually show Yankee Doodle Dandy on AMC around the 4th of July every year. It's a great big helping of Americana and I eat it up every year! It's supposed to be the story of George M. Cohan (who wrote songs like "Grand Old Flag" and "Over There" and is the statue in Times Square) but the "facts" of his life in the movie are not exactly accurate. Who cares though! It's a fun movie!
Hope that helps!
Skye
Happy Birthday! Enjoy! :)
Happy birthday Rachel! I continue to love your blog and wish you the very best in your 29th year.
I would delete number 17 -bone marrow sounds awful!
plate to pixel is a great food photography book!
Happy birthday, girl!
I am all about #22! We should form an accountability club...
LOVE #12 - It's my goal too, but I don't know if I could do it in a year, unless I count my thesis! That totally counts, right?
As for classic books, if you haven't read Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, do it. It's probably my favorite book of all time!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy birthday! um, yes! I love bone marrow..sounds odd, but tastes delish. I once had a butter that was infused with bone marrow on a steak! I am really wanting to host a girls night also! or maybe a brunch.? You should visit SEATTLE!
One song always on my playlist...P.Y.T, by Michael Jackson! should be your theme song for your 29th year!
Girl, you are in shape! I love this list! It is so inspiring and I love that all your goals sound like fun!
Great list- for #17 I highly recommend DBGB!
I hope yesterday was wonderful!!!