So, this is 30…

Today is my 30th birthday. I’ve thought a lot about this date over the past 10 months and yet I didn’t spend much time imaging how I would feel today. So, how do I feel? In a word, blessed. I have truly been so overwhelmed with how fortunate I am to have so many people in my life who care about me. The last year has been an incredible journey and I’m so thankful to everyone who has shared it in with me. So many new people have come into my life in the past year and just made it immensely better. And then there are those who’ve been around for years and our relationships have just gotten sweeter and sweeter. Thank you. I honestly don’t know what else to say other than that.

Now that that’s out of the way…read below to see how I did on THE List!

1. Jump out of a plane. This will remain on the list. I missed a groupon for this and have been waiting for another one.

2. Run a half marathon (a second one – I ran one during my last year of law school). I did this! Read about it here.

3. Use my passport. Sadly, not yet. But it’s staying on the list!

4. Take part in meaningful volunteer work. DONE! Read about my pro bono experiences here.

5. Find a new karaoke go to song – “Baby Got Back” is classic, but it’s time to expand my range. Definitely found a new song. Whitney’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Somebody who Loves Me).” It’s a total crowd pleaser, fun to dance to and honors a late, great star. Plus, Emily and I ROCKED it at our friend’s birthday party – yay!

6. Stick to a budget. I’m going to say that this is always a work in progress, but I’ve come a long way.

7. Try one new restaurant a month. Actually, I think I did this. Especially with my recent jaunts to Boqueria, G Street Food and Mai Thai by my new office, this was a success!

8. Make one new recipe a month week. I definitely did not make one new recipe a week. But I made a LOT of new recipes and was encouraged to cook more with this item on my list. I’m calling it a success!

9. Take a surfing class. Not yet.

10. Go skiing. I had a ski trip planned but had to cancel at the last minute. Hopefully I can check this off this winter.

11. Road trip like I mean it. Yep. Took a great trip to VA Beach!

12. Start my own urban garden. Yes! It’s planted. Check it out here.

13. Perfect my biscuit recipe. Pretty dang close! My latest go at it is here.

14. Cook a five course meal. I have a pretty strong idea of what this is going to look like, but I just ran out of weekends to do this. It’ll stay on the list, though.

15. Stay up and watch the sun rise.  Oh man. I’m not so sure about keeping this on the list. Why’d I want to do this again??

16. Learn to change a tire. Yep! Read about it!

17. Make something (a scarf, a shelf, etc.) and display it or give it as a gift. Yep. Remember that time I made a couch?! Check it!

18. See two great museums in NYC (I’ve been to NYC numerous times, but never done a major museum – I have no idea how that happened). This will probably happen when my mom and I go on our NYC trip.

19. Clean my apartment at least once a week. This has been surprisingly easy. I usually clean up as I go, so scrubbing the bathroom / vacuuming and the like isn’t painful.

20. Take a trip with my mother. Again, crazy weekend schedules haven’t allowed this to happen yet.

21. Live car free for a month. Read about that here.

22. Take a weekend trip – solo! I’m taking a work trip soon — does that count? I’m counting it 🙂

23. Have a sleepover with my niece and nephew. We did this over Christmas but it wasn’t a real sleepover because there was a house full of people and we didn’t make popcorn and stay up all night. Redo, but I’ll still count it.

24. Find a church in DC. I have found a wonderful church in DC. Here is my post on this.

25. Send at least five hand written letters to friends/family. I only wrote two! I’m definitely keeping this on the list.

26. Write (creatively) every day for a month. Eek! Another project that is staying on the list.

27. Have a housewarming/cocktail party! Major slacking on this front…

28. Do a random, anonymous act of kindness for a stranger. Yes and I’m not blogging about it.

29. Try a new fitness activity. I finally went to hip hop class with my friend. And I’m obsessed with Biker Barre!

30. Plan an AWESOME 30th birthday party! Birthday week is going to be great!

19 out of 30 completed in roughly 10 months. I’m okay with that and excited that I will be continuing to write about my list and whatever else my 30 year old heart desires.  Thanks for sharing THE List with me and don’t worry — I’ll keep blogging as I keep checking things off.