30 before 30

My 30th birthday is approaching faster than I'd like. I'm kind baffled at how quickly time has gone by since I graduated from college. I know there are lots of people who have done lists such as this and I figured it would be a good idea for me to put one together to help me accomplish some things I've had my mind on for a while now. I kinda cheated and used some off of this list.

via National Geographic

So... 30 things I want to do before I'm 30

1. Bake a soufflé
2. Wallpaper a room
3. Get out of the country
4. Really decorate for Christmas
5. Landscape my "yard"
6. Read all the Harry Potter books
7. Shop at the Alameda Flea Market or World's Longest Yard Sale Went to Rose Bowl Flea Market Instead
8. Become SCUBA certified
9. Wear a big hat to church
10. Refinish the kitchen cabinets and tile a backsplash
11. Photograph my Night & Day series and try to get it published or in a show or make a book
12. Sew myself a sassy dress with one of my vintage patterns
13. Get food storage in order
14. Learn to play the banjo
15. Become pregnant, blast you insurance!
16. Throw a very golden birthday party (mark your calendars, 2/28/12!) Nixed
17. Purchase real dining room chairs (gotta decide which ones...)
18. Start my layers project
19. Take ballroom dance lessons
20. Reupholster the other wingback chair, by myself...
21. Pickle cucumbers with a faboo recipe
22. Get into good habits (reading scriptures, writing in my journal, not putting my clothes at the foot of my bed, not leaving dishes in the sink, not biting my nails...again)
23. Own a gas efficient car
24. Workout 5 days a week
25. Build a piece of furniture by myself
26. Produce a diptych of my turtle photo
27. Make this into a quilt Make this photo into a quilt like this
28. Teach my dog to roll over and stay
29. Lose 30 pounds, no jokes
30. Wear some kick ace shoes on hot a date with Sir Luke

What do you want to do before you get to the next big number?

The future

A family friend passed away this week. She found out she had lukemia while giving birth to her first child. It definitely put a lot of things in my life in perspective. I'm continually praying and thinking of the families affected by this tragedy.

Today I am thankful to still have these things to look forward to in the future.

Hiking to Machu Pichu
Learning to sail
Owning a bakery
Living in Texas
Going to the Almeda Flea Market
Scuba diving in Hawaii
Making cheese
Learning to play the banjo
Being a mother
Making a book of my photographs
Having a fine art show with my work
Inventing something new
Sewing a dress
Taking a boat ride down the Nile
Writing a short story
Publishing a children's book
Flying kites in Japan
Traveling the entire length of route 66
Going to the World's Largest Yard Sale
Taking ballroom lessons with Sir Luke
Getting over my fear of flying
Sky diving (I can't even think about this without being gripped with fear, at the moment)
Conquering depression
Running a marathon
Building a house I designed
Owning dogs
Spending Christmas with my whole family without fights or hurt feelings (dreams can come true!)
Water skiing
Owning an evening gown
Taking my kids to The Nutcracker
Baking a successful souffle
Reading the Harry Potter Series
Re-learning to play piano
Find treasure
Attend an opera in Sydney

That's all I got for now! What do you look forward to doing in your life? There are SO many possibilities.

This is the New Year

I'm glad 2009 is over. I've been ready to put it behind me for a while. This year has been both frustrating and gratifying.

I've been feeling rather stunted creatively and I've been trying to figure out how I can remedy the problem. I want to be shooting everyday. I want to and I know I should but it hasn't been happening. I'll be starting a new project that I'm excited about. I want to paint (water color) and draw (in charcoal) more as well. I figure making time at least once a month would be a good start.

Sir Luke will be getting tools this month so the projects I thought wouldn't happen for ages may come to fruition sooner than  I had dreamed. I can't wait to get rid of the giant boxes of DVD's, Records, and Laser Discs. I'm going to try and get the kitchen to the place I want before summer is here and then start more painting again. I still need to touch up those insane stripes I painted in our bathroom. In essence, lots of house projects on my list.

Christmas was lovely spent with my parents in Los Angeles. We drove down Christmas eve after I started to recover my the stomach flu. Unfortunately for Sir Luke he caught the bug a day after Christmas and spent the rest of our trip mostly quarantined in bed. How it's possible I have zero pictures from Christmas I do not know. But my parents took loads and I'm sure I'll find an unflattering one soon enough.

My cousin, Jeff, came down from San Bruno, CA to join in the day's festivities and brought with him my new favorite game. It is not for the sensitive or faint of heart and I was shocked my mother even played it the four rounds we went. It's called Lunch Money and consists of beating up the other players with roundhouses, eye pokes, choking and the like. Violent for commemorating the birth of the Savior, yes. But fun? also yes.

I still need to finish my stats class, but I did get farther than any other year in 2009. I will finish by April. I am determined.

I also need to finish the revamp of my website. This is proving, once again, to be the bane of my life.

I started writing a short memoir about my senior year of high school last summer and I'm determined to finish it by the end of this month. I'll be posting it in sections on the blog. I wrote another short memoir while we were driving the seven hours from LA to LV on the 30th. It is supposed to take around four hours....needless to say I was rather perturbed. So I scribbled illegibly in the dark and will attempt to transcribe it soon for your viewing pleasure. I know you're dying to know what could possess me to write in the dark.

Well that was a lot of words without pictures. If I were you I wouldn't have gone past the second paragraph. Thanks for braving the random stream of consciousness.